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Tuesday, 17 August 2010

AN OVERVIEW OF CHESS PIECES

In chess, there are two kinds of pieces – black and white. White always moves first, and it alternates from then on. The ultimate goal is to capture the enemy king.
In chess, there are six kinds of pieces, each of them moves in a different way. Some, however, may have certain similarities in terms of movements. For example, no piece can land on a square which is occupied by another piece of the same color. But if a piece lands on a square which is occupied by a piece of the enemy color, then that piece is captured and removed from the board. The description and movements of each of the chess pieces have been discussed below.
The rook looks like a castle, or a small tower – it moves in a straight line vertically or horizontally. It can move any number of squares. Then there is the bishop, which can move in a straight line diagonally, in any direction – again, for any number of squares.
The king can move in any direction, and also diagonally. But he can only move one square at a time. This piece is the most essential part to the game of chess, as the capture of a king by the opposing color means the game is over. There is also the queen, whose movements are a combination of the rook’s and the bishop’s – it can move in any direction – horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, for any number of squares. This uninhibited movement of the queen’s makes it the most powerful piece in the game of chess.
There is the knight, which looks like a horse. It moves in a slightly irregular pattern which may be described as an “L-shape”. It can leap over pieces. Finally, there is the pawn, which can move forwards and not backwards, one square at a time unless they are on their original square.